Overlanding and Fiddlebacks. I’d like your opinion!

Phillip,

This thread has been a very fun ride for all of us from the start. You put a lot of thoughtful planning and preparation into getting ready to go. As you have documented here, all that work paid off with an amazing adventure for you and Meredith. I had fun watching your progress on the GPS map.

It looks like all of your equipment help up well and performed as expected. I love the fact that your whole camp set-up and tear-down is only 10-15 minutes and everything has its place. The pictures in Part 2 of the FJ in camp mode in the Dixie & Gallatin NF areas really sum up what I pictured the trip to be about. Having a vast section of nature to enjoy with your wife away from other people is a special experience. It looks like you ate well, enjoyed some seasonal rain, and slept in comfort.

Even though you took more than five knives, it seems like you settled on five favorites for what you actually did. The Forty-Point “Jack” was a great birthday gift that Meredith obviously bonded with. Judy’s knives have an elegant and practical style to them. I kind of figured that the Gaucho would handle most of your food prep on the trip. It is a perfect choice for that role. I appreciated your comment about the weight and performance difference you experienced between the two Camp Knives when clearing the trail to the river (who made the kydex set-up by the way?) I knew that with you being “Mr. BC” you would definitely work the BC Jr. into the rotation for some tasks. It warms my heart to see how you bonded with the Patch knife. I remember that you had your doubts about that model when you handled mine earlier this year. The Patch & Gaucho remain two of my most used Fiddlebacks and it appears that you feel the same.

Your nature shots captured a lot of color of some of the most scenic places in those states. I don’t think I would put Beaver in that category, but the Bryce Canyon and Yellowstone pictures definitely qualify.

Thanks again for all the work that you put into this thread. It will remain a classic that gets revisited by many of us. I also want to wish you a belated Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday to Meredith.

Phil
 
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Gorgeous photos Phillip. I love those sheath setups you came up with. Very nice to have such a complete kit in one package. Looks like you guys had a sweet time!
 
Incredible thread, story, and pictures. I definitely would enjoy a trip of that variety. Kudos for the time you put into sharing it.
 
Amazing thread. I have throughly enjoyed reading about your adventure and your pictures are incredible! Thank you.
 
Thanks all. It was fun to do. Interestingly, I hadn't re-read all my posts in a while. It's neat to see what we started off to do and what we actually did. The trip was little shorter, we didn't go as far north as we thought, we spent way more time in Utah than I would have thought. We also did not plan to do the Big Sky, MT area and the Gallatin River/Forest. That was a last minute ad lib that was well worth the effort. It kept us from going as far north, but we really got to spend some quality time around the west Yellowstone area. It also gave us extra time in Bozeman which is a neat little town. Montanta State houses the Rocky Mountain Natural History Museum which has Jack Horner's paleontology collection and we were able to spend time looking at the collection and see some of the few, real T-rex skulls in exisitence. Also, I have not inlcude in whitewtaer photos from the Snake, Provo and Weber Rivers. We decided to skip Zion on the way back in lue of a full weekend at home before returning to work. It's the closest park to us and we can do it in a long weekend. After all the other places we were a bit desentitized to all the outdoor grandeur.

Thanks for the compliments on the photos. Meredith has a D90 which we used a lot, but oddly enough many of those posted were actually taken with my Samsung phone. As an example, the last two photos - the Prismatic Pool was with my phone and Mammoth Springs was with the D90.

Phil, thanks for the best wishes. Being the nerds that Meredith and I are, we got married on 7/3 so we would always have the day after our anniversary off. :D It was a fun experience to spend July 4th in Yellowstone. The park was a lot less crowded that day than when we came back though from Montana a few days later. The Kydex was made by David Brown. I really like the feature that he incorporated to mix and match. So if I want a firesteel and the Camp only, go to go. Life capsule and BCK, no prob. A little less "soul" than leather, but very functional. I'm thinking about buying a setup to make my own Kydex and trying to make the addtional sheath for the BC Jr. to add to the options.

I have a few more thoughts that I'll add when I have time. Mainly on the differences between the production and custom Camp. I may do that in a different thread.
 
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Great post and trip Phillip!!! I am in a low internet setting but I am going to come back to this thread when I get home.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Wow, awesome trip. You tell a story well. Excellent narration as well as illustrations. Congrats on the wonderful trip.



Now, since you didn't take that Bushcrafter Sr in Ironwood with you, I can only assume it's because you have grown tired of it and want to sell it to me. :p
 
Wow, thank you for sharing your trip and those beautiful pictures Phillip! That rig that you’ve set up is pretty damn cool. I hope you two had a very happy anniversary! Also, I’m really glad that Meredith liked her “Jack” :)
 
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